"The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" at SHN

This is an interesting show. My wife saw it last year in London, then read the book. Though she found it interesting, she didn't see the need to see it again, so I went to see the touring production in San Francisco with my daughter and my mother-in-law.

I won't go into great detail, because it's pretty well-known and not a local production. Still, it's theater....

The Play

Based on the novel of the same name by Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Simon Stephens is quite a show. The main character is a teenage boy who is somewhere on the autism spectrum, brilliant in some areas (particularly mathematics) and rather stunted in others (such as social awareness). Christopher is blessed with an amazing, eidetic memory, but struggles with a lot of the basic tasks of living. His parents struggle with him, and then he loses his mother to a problem with her heart (about which we learn much more later). His father struggles with keeping Christopher going while working to support them.

The show commences with Christopher examining the remains of a neighborhood dog that has been killed unexpectedly with a garden fork (or a pitchfork to us Yanks). Christopher becomes quite obsessed with figuring out who killed the dog, but being socially inept, he has difficulty going about it. That takes us through the first act.

After intermission, we have learned the answer to the question of the dog's murder, and the answer send Christopher off on a solo adventure to London. The portrayal of a smart-but-not-worldly kid with very little practical ability trying to make his way is well done, though it doesn't provide much in the way of new insights into his character.

Ultimately, the plot devices feel stretched a bit (though it's quite accurate to portray such a kid grabbing onto and obsessing over a task), and I felt like it was an interesting portrait of a kid with symptoms of autism-related issues, but the overall story line wasn't all that great.

The Production

The set should probably get a credit of its own. The stage is a box divided into squares, and the production makes great use of the lights and lines and drawing surfaces and such. It's quite elaborate, and manages to be both simple and complex, and overall quite elegant. On the other hand, as with any really elaborate set, it has a tendency to overshadow some of the items for which it is really meant to serve as a backdrop. Overall I thought it was intriguing and a plus, but then I'm a techno-junkie.

On the other hand, because the set was capable of being so overwhelming, it was an excellent vehicle for demonstrating the way Christopher perceives the sheer volume of sensory input, so in that sense it's quite successful.

On yet another hand, however, the character development really suffers. We get a pretty good view into Christopher, and some into his parents, but really, other than the one central character, everyone else is pretty one-dimensional, and we don't get a lot of insight into their motivations.

I should also mention that the part of Christopher, demanding as it is, is double-cast, and we saw the actor (Benjamin Wheelwright) who plays only selected shows. He was quite good, and I was impressed with the complexity of the role and its interactions with all the other actors. Having two actors play that central role has got to be challenging, but they handle it well.

Bottom Line

The stagecraft is clever and interesting, and the main character is good. The plot of the first act keeps it going pretty well, but the second seems a bit aimless. Still, it's a good show, well designed and performed. If you're inclined to see it, I'd say you should go ahead. It plays through Sunday, the 23rd, before moving briefly to Seattle and then on to Los Angeles for a month or more, then Costa Mesa and Las Vegas, briefly.

Check it out. It's pretty neat.